This application is based on application No. 11-304210 filed in Japan, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital camera and, more particularly, to a digital camera having two display units capable of electronically displaying an image, for example, an electronic view finder and a monitor.
2. Description of the Background Art
Hitherto, a digital camera is known, which has two display units each capable of electronically displaying an image, such as an electronic view finder for electronically displaying an image of a subject in a real time manner in an image capturing mode, and a monitor for electronically displaying an image of the subject at the time of or after capturing the image.
In some digital cameras, only one of the electronic view finder and the monitor, which is selected at the time point is allowed to display a real-time image of the subject in the image capturing mode. The reasons why only one of the two electronic image display units is allowed to display an image are as follows.
(1) When both of the electronic image display units are allowed to display an image, the power consumption is high.
(2) The user hardly looks images simultaneously on the monitor and the electronic view finder. Even in the case where the user checks images of a subject on both units, the user usually looks the images on the electronic view finder and the monitor alternately. Consequently, there is not much merit in allowing both units to display images simultaneously.
On the other hand, a digital camera capable of housing a monitor which is movable in a housing position in the camera body is known. In the digital camera, when the monitor is housed, only an electronic view finder is used. When the monitor is not housed, both the electronic view finder and the monitor can be used for displaying images, and it is also possible to allow only the monitor to display an image.
In the former case, however, there is not much merit in allowing both of the two display units to display images as described above, and the power consumption is high.
In the latter case, although the power consumption is not a problem, even when an image is displayed only on the monitor, the user instinctively looks through the electronic view finder. This happens because of a subconscious awareness such that the user can always look a real-time image of a subject through a finder due to a habit formed in an optical finder. The following is also connected. In the case of the electronic view finder, different from the monitor, the user cannot check whether an image is displayed or not without actually looking the image through the finder.
As described above, such a conventional digital camera of a movable monitor type has a problem such that it is not constructed so as to produce a technical synergistic effect between the fact that the monitor is movable and the fact that the two display units are selectively used and allowed to display an image in order to save consumption power.
The present invention is directed to a digital camera.
According to the present invention, this digital camera comprises: a first display unit capable of electronically displaying an image; a second display unit capable of electronically displaying an image and movable among a plurality of positions including a first position in which at least a part of a display face of the first display unit is covered with the second display unit and a second position in which the display face of the first display unit is not covered with the second display unit; and a display controller which performs a first control of making the first display unit incapable of displaying an image when the second display unit is in the first position, and a second control of making the first display unit capable of displaying an image when the second display unit is in the second position.
By making the first display unit incapable of displaying an image when the second display unit is in the first position in which at least a part of the display face of the first display unit is covered with the second display unit, a power-thrifty digital camera is realized.
When the second display unit is in the first position, the display face of the first display unit is at least partly covered with the second display unit. Consequently, the user can easily understand that the first display unit is not used to display an image at the time point. The user does not therefore looks into the first display unit on which no image is displayed.
Further, in a state such that the digital camera is not in use, by setting the second display unit in the first position, effects such that adhesion of dusts and dirt onto the display face of the first display unit is decreased and the display performance is therefore maintained are produced.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the digital camera, the second control is a control of selectively making the first and second display units activated when the second display unit is in the second position. Since both of the display units are not made activated simultaneously when the second display unit is in the second position, it is particularly power thrifty.
In another aspect of the present invention, in the digital camera, the display controller comprises: a detecting element for detecting the position of the second display unit; and a switching element for switching the first control and the second control in accordance with whether the second display unit is in the first position or the second position. By the switching between the first and second controls, the operation of making the display unit incapable of displaying an image is automatically performed in association with the movement of the second display unit between the positions. The user therefore does not have to switch the control between the first and second controls.
The present invention is also directed to a method of controlling display of a digital camera comprising a first display unit and a second display unit which is movable between a first position in which the first display unit is covered with the second display unit and a second position in which the first display unit is not covered with the second display unit.
The xe2x80x9cdisplay facexe2x80x9d in the present invention denotes an open face by which the user can look a displayed image and which can be brought physically close to the display image. For example, a display face in an electronic view finder corresponds to the face of an eyepiece of the electronic view finder.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to obtain a digital camera of a type that one of two electronic display units is operative, which achieves lower power consumption while ergonomically effectively utilizing the movability of one of the display units.
Another object of the present invention is to achieve both an ergonomic design and lower power consumption and make the most of the movability of one of the display units so as to produce other effects such as maintenance of the performance of the digital camera.
These and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.